Israel Passes Law Targeting Civil Society Organizations

12.7.16

They are trying to silence us, they are trying to de-legitimize us, they are trying to change the face of Israel, the country which we love and work every day to improve. But we will not let them succeed. Their efforts will not stop us from continuing to work for peace and democracy.

The NGO bill is a blatant violation of freedom of expression. Tailored specifically to target only peace and human rights organizations, its true intention is to divert the Israeli public discourse away from the occupation and to silence opposition to the government’s policies. While the law will de-legitimize left wing organizations, pro-settler NGOs who receive millions of dollars in dollars in foreign donations without any transparency will remain unaffected. Unfortunately, this is only one of many pending laws leading to a severe deterioration in Israel’s democracy. We will continue to fight this anti-democratic wave in the streets and intend to challenge the NGO law’s validity before the Supreme Court.